Biography

Brooks was born in Jacksonville, FL, started school in a 1 room schoolhouse outside of Columbia, MO, graduated from high school in 1960 in Vicksburg, MS, received his B. A. in Mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley, and received his M.A. and Ph.D. in Mathematics at the University of Illinois. During 1968 and 1989 he was Assistant Professor, Associate Professor, Full Professor, and Department Chairman in the Department of Mathematics at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge. During that time he was also Visiting Associate Professor of Mathematics in the Department of Combinatorics in the College of Mathematics at the University of Waterloo (Ontario, Canada), Visiting Professor in the Department of Mathematical Sciences at Johns Hopkins University, and Visiting Professor in the Department of Mathematics at Georgia Tech University. He also held a Visiting Fellowship at the Institute of Advanced Studies at the Australian National University (in Canberra). In 1989 he became Emeritus Professor and Chair Emeritus of Mathematics at Louisiana State University. Also in 1989 he was named as one of 12 Founding Faculty to help launch the first new public university in the U.S. in nearly 20 years, California State University San Marcos. During 1989-2012 he was Founding Faculty Professor of Mathematics at California State University, where he helped to establish and move the campus to become a vibrant regional institution. During that time he held visiting positions at the University of Singapore and the University of Colorado in Denver. He retired fully in 2012 as Professor Emeritus of Mathematics, but he remains professionally active. His publication list includes 75 items in discrete mathematics (some on voting theory), combinatorics, and graph theory (primarily on complete directed graphs). In retirement he has turned to art, composing abstracts using colored ink, acrylics, and watercolors. His work aims for pleasing content using flowing lines and shapes that are encased by bold colors, but are balanced while avoiding symmetry.